[gymrat]

A friend of mine asked me if I was ever going to do a milk stout. He said he just loved the Left Hand Milk Stout at Old Chicago. So I thought why not give it a shot. I went to the Left Hand website and they listed the ingredients but not the portions. So I ordered one and tasted it and guestimated the proportions of the ingredients. This is what I came up with:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: End of the World Milk Stout
Brewer: Roger
Asst Brewer: Ralph the Wonderdog
Style: Sweet Stout
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 5.70 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.20 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal   
Bottling Volume: 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 54.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 22.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
5 lbs                 Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)           Grain         1        44.4 %       
2 lbs                 Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)             Grain         2        17.8 %       
1 lbs                 Roasted Barley (Simpsons) (550.0 SRM)    Grain         3        8.9 %         
8.0 oz                Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM)                 Grain         4        4.4 %         
8.0 oz                Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)    Grain         5        4.4 %         
8.0 oz                Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM)               Grain         6        4.4 %         
8.0 oz                Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)                   Grain         7        4.4 %         
4.0 oz                Black Malt - 2-Row (Briess) (500.0 SRM)  Grain         8        2.2 %         
1.00 oz               Fuggles [5.40 %] - First Wort 60.0 min   Hop           9        22.1 IBUs     
1 lbs                 Milk Sugar (Lactose) [Boil for 60 min](0 Sugar         10       8.9 %         
1.0 pkg               SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast         11       -       

Trying them side by side the left hand was definitely sweeter where mine had a bit of a bitter bite. Not drastically but detectable. I am thinking this will condition out over time. Also when tasted side by side I could definitely detect more 2 row in mine. The bubbles are finer in the left hand giving it a "nitro" feel even out of the bottle. I have no idea how they do that. Other than that there were no discernible differences in flavor.

I was surprised at the hop bitterness when I only used an ounce of relatively low alpha hops. If I take another stab at this sometime I will FWH half an ounce and add the other half at around 45 minutes to tone that down.  Also I will back off the 2 row by half a pound. 

[Hokerer]

Trying them side by side the left hand was definitely sweeter where mine had a bit of a bitter bite. Not drastically but detectable. I am thinking this will condition out over time. Also when tasted side by side I could definitely detect more 2 row in mine. The bubbles are finer in the left hand giving it a "nitro" feel even out of the bottle. I have no idea how they do that. Other than that there were no discernible differences in flavor.

Could that full pound of roast barley maybe be the culprit in that "bitter bite" ?

[gsandel]

I think that it is the combination of dark grains (roasted barley, chocolate, and black) clocking in at 16% of your grain bill.  If you think about these in that they provide the color and, like the hops, provide a balancing effect to the malt and lactose sweetness.

You can also elect to cold steep the dark malts, or add them at the end of your mash process, but I don't speak from great experience as I don't bother with this process....I like to go all in at mash time.  I have found that I have been halving my dark grain usage on older recipes now that I have a slightly more efficient mash tun for much improved and distinctive (rather than muddy) dark beer flavors.

[gsandel]

oh, and I have had some success with switching to pale chocolate malt as well....but I usually just use whichever I have and adjust the grain bill according to what I am trying to achieve.

[gymrat]

The bitterness has conditioned out of this stuff. Now it is extremely close to Left Hand Milk Nitro when drank side by side.